Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 657 Costner Please Drink Beer
After resting for two weeks, Ronald began to enter the editing room to start editing "The Second Part of Dragon Might Boy".

For the first time, Ronald felt that he lacked that strong creative desire when editing.

In the previous few films, including the first film of Longwei Boy, he was eager to get the final film out of the samples.

Sitting in front of the editing machine, Ronald sometimes felt that he was an ancient Greek sculptor, looking at the final film, slowly arranging and combining it according to the appearance in his mind from a large number of films and recordings, and finally become a work of art.

But in this sequel, Ronald is struggling to muster the kind of full creative desire, as if he is just completing a job, no longer carving with a carving knife, but like a plaster worker, according to the first part Put the plaster into the mold, and then wait for him to take shape, break the mold and break out a statue that can't be called art, but can be sold at a good price.

Ronald, who had never felt this way, called the editing master Walter Murch and asked him to come and see it live.

Walter Murch has completed the production of MJ's "Captain Io" 3D short film, and is groping for the stereo soundtrack of this new 3D film. Hearing Ronald's call, he will come over to see his apprentice immediately.

Murch, who spent two hours watching several original films, smiled and said to Ronald, "No problem, you are making a very typical Hollywood commercial film, you are just a little tired of aesthetics."

"What?" Ronald didn't understand what Murch meant.

"If a director shoots many films of the same type, he will accumulate a lot of experience. For this type of film, where to slow down the pace, where to speed up, all the narrative and camera scheduling, and editing skills, you have already learned a lot. understanding.

In this way, when you are editing, it is not as exciting as when you faced many challenges the first time.

There is a famous saying in our industry that directors and editors are always bored before the audience is bored. "

"Then what should I do?" Ronald took a sip of wolfberry black tea, and he really felt like this.

"Either you seek a change in the genre film, or you let someone else edit your film." Murch shrugged, obviously there is no good way.

Ronald couldn't do either, so he had to continue in the editing room, taking time to make editing decisions one by one.

After looking at the film from a more objective perspective, Ronald began to criticize the actors' acting skills.

Like his aesthetically tired director, the performances of Ralph Mazio and Morita Noryuki also tend to fall into stereotypes.

This is not anyone's intention, but the problem caused by the script.

"Longwei Boy Part [-]", the actual core has not changed much from the first part. He is still a boy who is not favored by others. With the help of a master master, he defeated a strong enemy and finally embraced the counterattack of the beauty. story.

Because it is the second part, the audience needs an extra story.So the plot is also increased in all aspects.Sharper contradictions, more powerful enemies, more romantic stories, more budgets, more novel locations...

The two protagonists are a bit stuck in the character image set up in the first film, and they automatically move forward.

Fortunately, there is a newcomer Tomita Tan Ling, she is the first time to appear in this series.So Tomita's performance is still full of the unique aura of a newcomer acting in a movie for the first time.

Judging from the love scene alone, the second one is better than the original one, and the chemistry between the two actors is also better.

The clip continued to advance, and one weekend, Ronald unexpectedly received a call from an old friend, inviting him to come to his house for a reunion.

"Kevin!" Ronald walked into a small house outside Los Angeles.

"Ronald, welcome!"

Kevin Costner let him into his new home, took out a Budweiser can from the refrigerator, and threw it to Ronald.

Kevin Costner is also famous, but he looks a little flattered.He called Ronald to meet in the past, and the two drank beer very simply, as if they were old friends from high school.

Costner's modest leading role in "Night of the Comet" also attracted some attention.But the film's box office success only allowed him to get some new script offers, not a big hit.

On the contrary, it was the just-released "The Great Battle of Sivarra" that made him suddenly famous and able to afford a new house.

"The Great Battle of Sivarra" is a traditional western film. In today's decline of western films, there are still many fans of western films among the top executives of the seven major Hollywood studios.

The success of this movie made these old diehards start to look forward to bringing Western movies into mainstream theaters again.

"Congratulations!" Ronald took a sip of Budweiser, picked up the pizza and beef jerky on the table, and chewed them.While watching a baseball game on TV, I chatted with Costner.

"This is what director Kasdan still remembers and owes me. I am very lucky."

The main reason why Costner was able to play one of the four leading men in "The Great Battle of Sivarra" was that director Lawrence Kasdan wanted to return a favor.

In the "Big Chill" a few years ago, Kevin Costner played the college student who died at the beginning, but in the final film, director Kasdan deleted all his parts.

At the home of Meg Tilly, who played his girlfriend, the other cast members were still laughing at Costner because he didn't have the high-end cashmere scarf that the crew gave him.

Lawrence Kasdan has always remembered this matter, and after taking over the "Sivarra Great Battle", he specially recruited Costner to play the leading role, and returned him a favor.

Sivarra's Armageddon is a Western, and it's been a long time since anyone wanted to make a Western.This is a bit of a retro western. The unexpected box office is not bad, and the film critics and big studios have given him a high evaluation.

So for a while, Costner also became a small star in Western genre films, earned a lot of salary, and rented a house by himself.He also remembered that Ronald gave him the first role back then, and he was the first to invite him over for a beer.

"How's the box office?" Ronald asked Costner. This carpenter-born man has a quality that makes it easy to get along with him.

"It's not bad. The producer said that it can last three months in theaters, and the box office won't be too high. However, this kind of western has a fixed audience. I heard that the TV rights are selling well, and it will be released soon at the end of the year." Get out the tape."

"How much are you going to sell?"

"Ninety-nine dollars, right?"

"It's still too expensive." Ronald shook his head and took a sip of beer.

Most of the movie tapes these days sell for close to a hundred dollars.Most American families can't afford it.Their more common choice is to go to the newly emerging video rental stores to rent a video to watch at home.

The price is one five to three yuan per day.

"Cindy, get us some more fried chicken wings."

Costner said to his wife in the room.

"Okay, I'll come as soon as I put Annie to sleep."

Costner and his wife, Cindy, have been a sweetheart couple since high school.The relationship between the two is very good, and they just gave birth to a daughter, Anne, last year.

Kevin Costner took over Ronald's movie "Night of the Comet". With basic living expenses, Cindy also became a housewife at home.

Soon, Cindy put on her apron and headed to the kitchen to make snacks for her husband and friends.She is a beautiful brunette with beautiful looks.

"Here you are, Ronald, to taste."

Cindy has a lot of respect for Ronald, the man who brought hope to her small family and the first big money.

"Oh, it's delicious, Kevin is such a lucky guy."

"Yes, I'm very lucky."

Costner and Cindy kiss.Then continue to watch the World Series of Baseball with Ronald. This year, the Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals entered the finals.

"Bang!" Left fielder Lonny Smith hit a hit.

"Did you know? Lonnie only transferred from the Cardinals to the Royals this year. This is the first time in the history of the World Series that such a situation has happened to a finalist."

"Oh, he's so motivated." Ronald and Costner toasted.The other party is very familiar with the history of baseball, and Ronald is also very interesting to have such a knowledgeable person introduce him.

"Kevin, do you have something to eat?" Ronald saw a sloppy man coming out of the study.

"Michael, there's still pizza on the table, you can take it." Costner pointed to Ronald and the leftover pizza he ate.

"Thank you", the sloppy Michael picked up the pizza and put it in his mouth cold.

"Don't you need some hot tea?" Ronald asked seeing him eating hard.

"There's hot coffee in there." Costner pointed to the kitchen.

"Thank you, I'll be fine soon."

Michael finished his pizza, took something that looked like a script, and walked out.

"He is?" Ronald asked.

"It's my friend. You know, when I was down and out, I had a lot of friends, screenwriters, makeup, actors, we all mixed together. I went ashore one step ahead of them. Now if these friends encounter difficulties, I let them live at my place."

Kevin Costner is all good with old friends.

"You have to tell Michael, don't throw the food around and attract cockroaches." Cindy cleared a dozen piles of snacks and instant packaged cakes from the study.

"I'll tell him, Michael was good to me before, he just lacked opportunities."

Costner went to break up with his wife, and finally let Michael continue to live at home.

"Is his script really good?" Ronald asked.

"No, but I can't drive him away." Costner shook his head with a smile. This friend always writes some whimsical things, and the rhythm is not right.

I can only give him a place to live. After a few months, he feels hopeless, so he will naturally go back to his hometown.

(End of this chapter)